The Harrowed Land entry 2: Into the Crypt of the Undead

Seeing no-one else in the room, we had a look around - I saw four sets of rope with dust disturbed around them and Arlineli inspected the robed bodies. I informed the group that we need to stay away from the gong, as it probably sounded an intrusion alert to the others. Piplic, however, took an immediate liking to the gong - approaching it with outstretched hands. Arlineli told her to stop, but she wouldn't listen, wriggling out of both Arlineli's and then Emen's attempts to restrain her. In the chaos, Arlineli cast a spell on her making her stop, and in response she insulted him about his ears - a pretty ignorant and racist approach as far as I'm concerned. After firmly telling Piplic we will get the gong on the way back, we decided to proceed through the catacombs. This time Arlineli led us down some dark stairs, followed by Emen, and then Piplic and I. While I managed to remain quiet, Arlineli knocked into some bones again, Emen's chain skirt made noise as she trudged carelessly and Piplic made some whimpering noises - we might as well have let Piplic take the gong. I saw firelight up ahead, and Emen charging into it. I ran after her, seeing her running at some robed people who were drawing their swords. I managed to hit one of them using my longbow, and they fell into a large pit centered in the room, joining what appeared to be other dead humans inside it. As Emen ran to the second person, I noticed robed figures kneeling on the other side of the pit, one chanting behind an alter with a bloody corpse on it. As Emen swung at the first cultist, Arlin cast a spell seemingly at the chanting cultist. I assumed he knew what he was doing, and fired my bow at them, luckily hitting them in the head despite them being obscured by the alter. Unfortunately he was soon replaced by a second cultists, who resumed the chanting. While dealing with the cultists surrounding her, Emen was tackled into the pit by a dagger-wielding cultist. As Emen hit the bottom of the pit, some of the corpses stirred and reanimated, and began attacking the half-orc, leaving her open to the slashing of the cultist’s dagger. Other corpses in the side of the pit nearer to me began moving to the edge of the pit to climb up. I couldn’t get s clear shot at the undead attacking Emen, so instead I tried shooting one that was approaching Piplic and I. My arrow sunk into its chest but it didn’t flinch as it continued its approach. Two undead made it out of the pit and surrounded me as Arlineli and Piplic ran to the aid of Emen who was getting repeatedly attacked while restrained and defenceless – Piplic began playing her flute, giving Emen some strength back to fight back against the cultist despite her wounds, and Arlineli used his powerful magic to begin fighting off the undead. I realised I needed to kill the chanting cultist, as preventing more undead from rising was vital. I fatally stabbed one of the undead surrounding me and was able to evade the grasp of the second as I ran forward to get a better view of the chanting cultist. As soon as he was in my line of sight, I shot, luckily landing a fatal blow. As the chanting ceased, the undead fell, silent and still once again. Arlineli helped the wounded Emen, offering her a hand out of the pit. Piplic, who had just been surrounded by undead, was buried under the now unmoving corpses – Arlineli hesitated as Emen laughed at Piplic, giving me time to make my way over to help Arlin remove the corpses. We then began to search the room (Piplic magically cleaned herself first), Arlineli’s medical knowledge assisting us in identifying that the remains of the body on the alter was likely a grown woman, and the other bodies behind the alter appeared to be the size of human children. It soon became apparent that these were likely, tragically, the bodies of the missing persons. Arlineli and I decided to give the poor souls a proper funeral before we left. Emen helped us move the bodies onto a pyre, where Arlineli performed funeral rites before setting it alight (Piplic tried to take the antler headpiece off the deceased, but thankfully Arlineli stopped her firmly in her tracks, and believing he was not a member of the cult, allowed him to be included in the funeral). As promised, we went with Piplic so she could retrieve the gong, and then left back to the town of Ryek to meet with the Reeve.
 
To remember:
Piplic appears to have an obsession with shiny or musical things - probably best to keep dangerous ones hidden in the future.